The String
by HoldOnToYourTunaCans
Summary: What happens when everybody likes the wrong person? Lots of pairings. Mostly IshiHime... My first Bleach fanfic! Sorry if you don't like it... On hiatus until further notice. My apologies.
1. Chapter 1

Author Notes:

_**WARNING:**_ Just a little OOC (actually a lot). I'm not really good at capturing character. I apologize to all the people who see the characters different than the way I have written about them here. I've only been writing fanfiction for a short amount of time and have yet to acquire the incredible ability of being able to recreate a character completely. This is also my first Bleach fanfiction so I haven't had any practice in using these characters in my writing. I am very sorry. Please don't hate me!!!

Ok I wrote this story a little differently than I have on my others. I looked at each chapter as a oneshot so I could think about each chapter individually and not as one continuous, flowing story. Everything follows the same story line, but the time flow may not be continuous. In one chapter it may be a Thursday and in the next, a Saturday. Then, two chapters may be written such that the events in those chapters happen simultaneously. I also wrote all the chapters out of order to help myself create the story line more efficiently. This is the first time I've ever written something like this. I hope it works…

Oh, and before you read the story, please keep in mind that I would like reviews. I accept **ALL** kinds. You could, for instance, tell me that I'm the worst writer who ever lived and anything I could possibly produce would be gladly shredded and flushed down the toilet so what am I doing wasting my time trying to write when I should be breaking all my pencils and than should proceed to crawl under a rock somewhere and die so I could never torture anyone with my indescribable mess of words that I dare to call a story ever again **OR** you could tell me it was the very bestest thing you ever read in your whole life and you're gonna put it on your favorites and tell all your friends about it and if I don't write more you'll hunt me down and kill me, to which I would reply that if you did that you'd never find out how the story ends and it would be a better idea to hunt me down, take me hostage and chain me to a chair nailed into the ground and tell me that if I didn't write more you'll eat an entire pumpkin pie and not even let me have a piece (trust me that's enough torture for me- I love pumpkin pie-). And WOW that was a long sentence!!!

ANYWAY, my point is (if you're still alive and/or awake to read this) REVIEW!!!!!

Ok, enough of my mindless babble… On with the story!

Oh, and keep in mind that if you don't review I'll get Nova to send you to a parallel universe!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha –Meow! hides under chair and quakes with fear-- Oh come here punkin, I didn't mean to scare you…Runs off too get frightened kitty from under armchair…

(Lucy: I swear I just met her…)

Oh and about the whole 'Lucy' thing, don't ask…

[I apologize for my annoying and sudden bouts of extreme randomness


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Ok, I got the inspiration for this fanfic by reading an incredibly

cute Uryu/Orihime fanfic on called 'Funny Love'. I swear it was the most adorable (and funny) Ishihime Fanfic I've ever

read. If you like this pairing I'm telling (not asking) you to read it! It's

really good. I read all the reviews for it and even people who said they

hated that pairing liked it! ()

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters. I simply

kidnap them to do my bidding so as to entertain my fan-girlish

notions does evil laugh, chokes on inhaled bug and dies (Lucy:

don't worry she posted the chapter before that happened).

One: The Dress 

"Oh Ishida-kun! It's wonderful thank you! I love it!" Orihime

exclaimed. She first held it to her chest and then at arms' length in front of her to look at it. It was a blue dress. At the top of the right arm a dark blue ribbon started and it spiraled down the entire dress ending at the bottom left corner of the skirt.

Tatsuki crossed the room and whispered something in Orihime's ear. Orihime's face lit up and she said "Good idea!" before running off. Uryu was thoroughly confused. Girls were so strange sometimes. Of course they probably felt that way about boys most of the time too. He thought it was funny how that worked. Just then the doorbell rang and Tatsuki, who had stated earlier that Ichigo was supposed to drop by around 4:30, called "Come on in."

Ishida looked around at the clock and saw that it was apparently 4:33. Ichigo walked into the room to find Tatsuki looking excited and Uryu looking very confused. They both looked as if they were waiting for something.

"So what are we waiting for here?" Ichigo asked.

"Well I'm not really sure but I think it's supposed to be a secret anyway." Uryu answered.

They waited patiently for a few more seconds when Orihime suddenly skipped into the room… wearing Uryu's dress…

Uryu looked upon her as if he had never seen her before. The dress looked better on her than he had expected. It clung to her in all the right places and complimented her delicate curves. It flowed like water over her body and the skirt fluttered when she moved. If she were to turn, it would have gracefully and beautifully flown out in a perfect pleated circle.

By this point Uryu had blushed about three shades of light pink. He hadn't meant for it to be so… stunning? Was that the word he was looking for? He very much hoped this wasn't in any way suggestive. He had simply wanted to give Orihime something practical that she would enjoy, but now, looking upon it, Uryu wondered if it was appropriate to make a girl look so good, so attractive.

Ichigo also looked a little abashed. He was definitely a

little uncomfortable at how it made her look. He liked her as only a

friend and everybody knew it. There was no possible way he could

ever have feelings for Orihime. You could see it in his eyes every time

he looked at or talked to her. Uryu and the rest of the guys knew he

didn't think she was particularly attractive. This was a slightly

different look that he gave her now though. It wasn't that he was checking her out or any thing of that nature. If anyone ever even suggested that Ichigo was checking Orihime out, he would have punched the guy in the face. Besides, Ichigo liked someone else and all the guys knew it; he just wouldn't tell them who. Most people suspected it was Rukia because of his habit of changing the subject when they asked him about her and how he had a knack for misspeaking when he was around her. She just thought he was a klutz, but everybody else was secretly laughing at him.

"Hey Inoue-san! Nice dress!" he said quickly regaining himself.

Uryu saw Orihime blush at this as she said, "Oh thanks! But Ishida-kun is the one that made it."

"Well I guess all that sewing paid off. It's nice work." Ichigo replied, giving an enthusiastic smile.

Uryu adjusted his glasses to hide his irritability. He resented

Ichigo's flirtatious style of conversation with Orihime. He was such a

ladies' man. Well, not really, but he was perceived as such due to the fact that any girl that had ever met him had, at one point, had a crush on him. Most of them soon got over it, though, after getting to know him a bit.

Orihime evidently was not one of those girls. It was so frustrating! Here he was, trying his hardest to get Orihime to notice him and going out of his way to make her a meaningful and heartfelt gift whether she realized that's what it was or not, and all Ichigo had to do was walk in the room and give her a compliment and she was blushing like crazy! Didn't Ichigo realize he was flirting with her even if he didn't mean to? Didn't he realize she took everything he said to heart and carefully considered every possible meaning of what his words could mean? Was he actually so clueless that he didn't know this was going on right in front of him? The whole situation was stupid and aggravating!

"Ishida-kun? Are you okay?" He turned his head and saw Tatsuki sitting on the floor next to him. She was so quiet and

lightweight that she had appeared silently beside him without him

even noticing. He had been so caught up in his own thoughts and

cleaning his already-spotless-spectacles that he hadn't realized her. It

was very…odd. Although, she _was_ a black belt in, what he was sure were, a few martial arts, so she had undoubtedly been trained to move quickly and quietly and, in time, it had surely become part of her life.

Quickly getting over his slight startle, he responded, "Oh it's 

nothing, I was just thinking."

"You know, it _is_ a nice dress you made. It looks like it was made

just for her," she answered.

"Oh, well thank you…" Uryu trailed off into thought. Tatsuki

thought he looked like he was daydreaming about something.

She smiled slightly to herself thinking '_Aha! It's just as I _

_thought! He's totally in love with her! Poor guy. Inoue-chan_

_likes Kurosaki-kun. She'll never notice him…_'

"So are we going to do homework like we said or just hang around?" Uryu inquired.

"Yeah, we should probably get to that you guys," Tatsuki agreed.

About an hour later as they were finishing up Uryu looked at the

clock, which read 5:52 and remembered that he had to be home by

6:00. This meant that he would have to leave at about 5:5o or so. His

house was not particularly close to Tatsuki's. It was within walking distance and not very far away in perspective but if you had to walk, it

seemed a much longer distance than it actually was.

"Hey you guys, I should probably be going. I promised I'd be home by six." Uryu informed his friends.

They all looked up from getting their papers together and packing their book bags up to look at him. Tatsuki thought he looked a little saddened, Orihime thought he looked tired and Ichigo thought he looked slightly relieved.

Tatsuki was the first one to speak. "Ok well see you later! And don't be shy to stop by every once in a while just to talk or somethin', 'kay?" she invited. 

"Well see ya later I guess…" Ichigo said.

Uryu smiled faintly and was turning to leave when he felt something come in contact with his body, throwing him off balance and almost knocking him over. He soon realized that it was Orihime hugging him. He was shocked and a little embarrassed. She was hugging him! Orihime Inoue was hugging HIM! Uryu barely had time to regain his composure before he heard her voice saying, "Thanks again Ishida-kun! You're such a good friend!" and she let go of him, smiling. It was so brief and astonishing that he honestly didn't know what to say. He was also slightly hurt by what she had said. He was constantly and painfully reminded that she didn't even know he existed.

He had to say something so, collecting himself, he said, "Y-Your welcome Inoue-san. It was no problem…" and walked out of the house thinking dejectedly, '_So that's what she thinks of me, huh? Friend? Of course… I knew that but still… Why doesn't she notice me? Maybe I'm just too shy. Not like her… She's so hyper and outgoing, everyone knows her! Barely anyone knows me… But that doesn't matter! I like it better that way anyway. I just wish she would pay more attention to me… She's too busy hoping Ichigo will like her to consider that someone like me even __**could**__ like her._'

On his way home, Uryu only observed the things he saw around him; the things that were always around but nobody ever took the time to notice anymore; birds, grass, trees, the sidewalk, power-lines and, his own shoes.

Upon arriving home and opening the front door of his house, Uryu soon realized that his father was home. He could be heard him typing away on his laptop in the next room. Uryu figured he was probably working on his blog, emailing someone or doing something of equal importance. He sighed and looked around the front room, just glad to be home.

"You home already, Uryu?" he heard his father ask.

"Yeah. I told you I'd be home around six." He called back.

"Oh I didn't realize it was that late already…" He could hear his dad mumbling about how there weren't enough hours in the day and other such nonsense. Uryu shook his head at how weird is dad was and made his way up to his room. Opening the door to his bedroom and dropping his book bag next to the desk, he plopped down on his bed so that he was lying on his stomach with his head and feet hanging off the sides.

This was his least favorite position to be in. He played with the carpet, pulling on individual strands for a few seconds before sighing and rearranging himself on the bed. He now had his hands behind his head on the pillow staring at the ceiling with one leg straight out and the other one bent so that his knee was pointing at the ceiling.

As he watched the ceiling fan spin 'round and 'round he thought about the last few minutes of his visit at Tatsuki's house. The

truth was, he had felt all of the things his friends thought he did. He was sad that he had to go, but also relieved that he could finally get out of there so he wouldn't have to be around Orihime anymore, and he was definitely tired. He'd stayed up late the night before resulting in only having gotten a few hours of sleep. He was also tired of doing homework and tired of being near Orihime. He wanted to be near her but every time he was, he felt very self-conscious. He worried

about simple, stupid little things that he'd never even considered

about himself before. He would find himself noticing things he didn't

really want her to notice, like that his hair was sticking up the wrong

way or that he had injuries from battle that she hadn't been able to

heal all the way. He wondered if she would notice that he was getting

a small blemish on his forehead. He figured probably not. His hair

usually covered that part of his face.

What made things worse was he wanted her to think he was at least slightly attractive, but he didn't even know how to do that. He didn't know what she thought was cute or even what she liked in someone's personality. He didn't know her like a girl-friend would know her. He knew girls talked about that kind of thing to each other. He had no doubt that Tatsuki and Rukia knew those things about her, but he didn't. Of course he didn't. He was a boy. For that reason alone he could never know that information unless Tatsuki, Rukia, or Orihime, herself told him. Of course she wouldn't tell him. Even if they _were_ going out (in his dreams), she would only tell him what she liked about _him_, not about boys in general and he could_**NEVER**_ ask Rukia or Tatsuki about it or they would definitely know that he liked her and he couldn't have that. Not yet. He wasn't ready to let people know he liked her.

He suddenly remembered what he had started off thinking about. What had happened at Tatsuki's house… The last few minutes at Tatsuki's house… Orihime had hugged him. She had hugged him!

That was an amazing thought. He thought about how he must have

looked, and now, looking back on it, it actually seemed quite comical.

It had happened so quickly that he had no time to feel hardly

any emotion at all. He was sure that if she hadn't taken him so off his

guard he would have been too shy to hug her back anyway. He no

longer felt so guilty about not hugging her. Of course, he probably

shouldn't have felt guilty about it anyway. When she had let go of him

he was still trying not to fall over. If he had known what was going on

he'd probably have freaked out and blushed like crazy. In fact, he seriously doubted that he would have been able to keep himself standing. All things considered, he was glad it happened the way it did.

He turned his head to look at the alarm clock on his dresser,

which read 6:34. He suddenly remembered that he had last eaten at

11:00 and now his stomach had a certain grumpy feel to it, so taking a

deep breath, Uryu went to the kitchen for some Ramen.

A/N: Well that's the first chapter, and in case you're wondering, I

imagine it to be a Tuesday after school but you can think of it

however you like. I have about five more or so planned out. I don't

know when I'll get them up. The only reason I got to write this so

quickly is because I wrote it over Thanksgiving Break. When I go back

to school I won't be able to write very much at all. And actually, I

wrote this while I was supposed to be reading Great Expectations…

It's a really good book. Charles Dickens is a genius with irony. I am

very much enjoying it, but I would rather be writing Bleach fanfiction

on Thanksgiving Day than reading something for school whether I

like it or not.

Anyway, keep in mind that I like reviews and feel free to

write one! And remember that I am very close friends with Nova… I'm

not kidding… Or am I? You'll never know!!!! Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

ahahacough,cough,cough, Water please… O o

(Lucy: She has problems with her evil laugh… --')


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hey peoples!!! Thanks for tunin' in. Hope ya like it!!!

Disclaimer: Well when I checked five minutes ago I still didn't own Bleach or the characters. -- Oh well!!! holds up handcuffs, ropes, duck tape and 'Taking Hostages For Dummies'

(Lucy: Oh, God… O.O SECURITY!!!!!!!!)

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha- hey no wait! I swear I wasn't going to do anything! Hey no aahhhhhhh!!!!!!! Not the straight jacket!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two: Talking

(Girls)

Orihime was nibbling on her pickle, peanut-butter and honey sandwich contemplating about whether a few strawberries or some chocolate pudding would pull it all together while thinking about (who else?) Ichigo and how much she liked him when her thoughts were interrupted by Tatsuki's voice.

"Orihime-chan, what are you thinking about so hard? Is it Ichigo again?"

"What? O-Oh no! Of course not!" she tried to argue but seeing the look on Tatsuki's face let her know that she knew only too well that Orihime _was_ thinking of Ichigo and it was no use trying to deny it. She blushed lightly and sighed, "It's just… Why doesn't he like me? All I want is to be able to make him happy and cheerful when he's sad. At first I thought I just wanted him to be happy, but then I saw how easy it was for Rukia-chan to make him happy and I didn't feel as satisfied as I thought I would. I want to be the one to cheer him up and encourage him to go on fighting but I know I can't. He won't listen to me. All he does is apologize for not being stronger. He only actually tries to get stronger when Rukia-chan knocks some sense into him. I guess I'm really, kinda jealous of Rukia-chan. It's not fair either because I really like her and she's so nice and everything, I don't want to be jealous of her, but I can't help it… And I'm really tired of the fact that nobody ever likes me!"

Orihime was almost in tears. Tatsuki saw that she wasn't going to be able to hold it in for much longer so she intervened and said, "Oh that's not true! Over half the schools' male population-"

"No it is true! They don't see me! All they see when they look at me is the size of my chest and maybe they think I'm a little bit pretty, but they don't really know me. The first thing people look at when they meet me is not my face, I can assure you that much, and it's not fair!!!"

Tatsuki had to admit she had a point there. She decided to drop a hint about Ishida. "Well I know a few people who know the real Orihime and they think she's pretty awesome."

"Who?" Orihime inquired.

Tatsuki replied with, "I can't tell you. It's not my secret to tell, and besides, if you haven't noticed by now, you will soon."

A few seconds later they heard the school bell ring, telling them they had five minutes until they're next class. "Hey, why don't you come to my house this afternoon? We can do homework and hang around an' talk an' stuff, okay?" Tatsuki asked. Orihime nodded in agreement and the girls pushed through the crowded halls to their lockers. Orihime was in a little better spirits by then and she had a lot more to think about, which mostly kept her mind free of the remaining sadness left in her being.

Who liked her and why did Tatsuki know about it? Was it somebody who knew her, Orihime, personally? Someone in their group? One of Ichigo's friends like Keigo or Mizuiro? This kept her mind busy for the majority of fifth period until she got tired of thinking about it and turned her attention to her lessons.

Tatsuki noticed this and knew that Orihime would probably never guess. She'd just have to spell it out for her later that day. Why was Orihime so blind to him? Tatsuki kind of felt for Uryu. He was a nice guy and one of the coolest nerds she had ever met. She kind of considered him a friend. He was kind of funny because it was so easy to read his emotions. The guy was like an open book. He was almost exactly opposite of Ichigo and it seemed like everybody thought so. How could those two be friends when they were so different? Uryu was so open and intelligent and Ichigo was like a wall or something. He was closed and always kept to himself. It was so difficult to read his emotions. One could never quite tell what was going through his mind, and although he was smart, he never really thought things through like Uryu did. Why would Orihime like somebody when he so obviously didn't like her and that was his personality? Sure, Ichigo was nice, but he was rough and sometimes a little scary due to the fact that he was so quiet and powerful. Not to say that Ichigo was quiet, no, quiet was the wrong word, he was just closed, and he always had a scowl on his face. Uryu was never scary, just protective, and even though that's what Ichigo was going for, it was still frightening sometimes. Uryu was very powerful but a lot gentler. That's what made Ichigo scary… The fact that he was rough made Ichigo intimidating.

(Boys)

Ichigo was becoming irritated and was about to start shouting but refrained several times. Who could blame him? It was Keigo carrying on the conversation. Ichigo tried to ignore him and thought about how happy he would be when Rukia came back to school. She was supposed to be there tomorrow. Thank God. Keigo was getting on his last nerve. Ichigo had actually partially forgotten what he was chattering on about until he started hopping around Uryu talking about Rangiku, whom he had met last month. "…and Wow! Depending on who wears it, the girls' uniform can be a beautiful and deadly weapon! I mean, did you see her? And that Orihime-san is HOT!!! She is one boobilicious babe!! Donchya think-?"

Uryu cut Keigo off from his constant and somewhat annoying chatter with, "Keigo-kun. Just stop talking already!"

"Why? You guys know it's true. I mean you can't say she isn't-"

"Just don't talk about Inoue-san that way. I'd appreciate it if you talked about Matsumoto-san elsewhere as well…" Ishida said quietly without looking up from his lunch.

"Why? Do you like her or something?"

"Who?"

"Orihime-san. You do, don't you? Of course, who doesn't like her? She _is_ the hottest girl in school-"

"No. I-"

"Yes you do! Don't lie to me Ishida-kun!!! Mizuiro, he's lying right? You think she's pretty too _right_???"

"Calm down Keigo-kun. You're very loud." This was Mizuiro's voice.

"What is with you guys??? Why are you so different??? What is going on?!?!?!?" Keigo screamed with waterfalls of tears gushing down his face. When he had finally gotten quiet, Ichigo released a sigh of relief.

"Ishida-kun, just say it already. We all know you like her. I know that Tatsuki's figured it out. She's known for a while I think. She's just been too polite to say anything and I know she hasn't told Inoue-san yet or she'd have come to school crying and apologizing to you already. Apparently everybody but her knows."

Ishida sighed and contemplated for a minute over Ichigo's words and decided he was probably right. "Fine… I do, but I don't know what to do. It's just so hard because she doesn't even seem to know that I exist. She's always too busy admiring you, Ichigo-kun."

Ichigo obviously hadn't been expecting him to say this because immediately afterwards his eyes got wide in surprise and he ended up choking on his drink.

After his little coughing fit, Ichigo said, "What?!? But, but, I don't like her! What the hell? Why would she like _me_??? That makes no sense! I've never done anything to make her like me!"

"You mean you've never noticed?" asked Mizuiro.

"Noticed what?" By this point Ichigo looked thoroughly confused. What could Mizuiro possibly be talking about?

Deciding it would be best to explain things to Ichigo, Uryu started off with, "Every girl that has ever met you has liked you, with the exception of Rukia-san. They all get over it within the first month though. Orihime, however, has not. She always stares at you and blushes when you talk to her and she thinks about you all the time. I can't read her mind, but I know that every time you talk to her or say something nice to her she tries to figure out if you could possibly be flirting with her or not. The other night when we went to Tatsuki-san's house to do homework, you said she looked nice and she blushed like a million shades of pink and tried to figure out if you were flirting or not. Didn't you notice?"

Now, come to think of it, he _had_ noticed but had simply paid no attention to it.

Ichigo began to speak, but promptly shut his mouth to think '_Ichigo you baka!_' while fixing Ishida with an incredulous gaze. He felt like he could kick himself. Why had he never noticed that before?

Uryu's voice interrupted his thoughts, "Well, sorry, but it's pretty obvious."

Ichigo didn't mind. It was true. How could get upset over something that was so painfully true? This was bad. And wait; did Uryu say that Rukia was the only person that never liked him? Great. The only person he ever _wanted _to like him was the only person that didn't. This was frustrating; frustrating and troublesome.

Uryu noticed Ichigo's face fall slightly. He figured it was probably because what he'd said about Rukia had just hit him. "Kurosaki-kun, you like Rukia-san don't you?"

Keigo suddenly had life in him again. "Ha!!! I knew it Ichigo! I knew you liked her. I was right, I was right, I was right!!!!! Haha!!!"

Keigo was positively bouncing off the walls, or he would have been if there had been any walls on the roof. As he tried to get near Ichigo so he could scream some more about him liking Rukia and hop around him or something, it became apparent that Ichigo didn't seem to have any intent on allowing that to happen. A second later the substitute Shinigami could be seen punching Keigo in the face. This was a natural and expected reaction from Ichigo and as such, didn't really surprise anyone. This was simply what happened when Keigo was being too hyper. The only person it actually affected was Keigo, who fell to the ground and incoherently mumbled something about how Ichigo had gotten so mean.

Ichigo turned back to Uryu and, even though he didn't really want to, he felt he was obligate to reply to the previously stated question, and since he had pretty much made Uryu tell, he definitely couldn't refuse, so reluctantly he admitted that he indeed liked Rukia.

"Hey you guys, maybe we should have a party or something…" Mizuiro offered.

Ichigo thought a party would be fun but he didn't know what the reason for having one would be. "Why?"

"Well we could throw a party for Inoue-san's birthday on Saturday." Uryu said. "We really didn't celebrate her birthday much."

About a moment later the school bell rang and the boys gathered up the remainder of their lunches, threw them in a nearby trashcan and walked into the school building, chatting to each other.

"Hey you guys, should we ask the girls about the party thing later?" Mizuiro asked.

They all mumbled that they didn't really care which served as an agreement.

(Girls)

Orihime was at Tatsuki's house with a cup of peppermint tea, sitting on a sofa in the living room. They had been talking about what had been going on at school lately; teachers, gossip, homework and other things of that nature when the doorbell rang and Tatsuki went to answer it. After a moment or so, she returned to the living room with Rukia following closely behind. Tastuki went to the kitchen to get Rukia a cup of tea, leaving her in the room to chat with Orihime for a few seconds.

"Oh, hello Rukia-chan! How are you doing? You haven't been at school for a few days. Have you been at Urahara-san's?"

"Yeah. I've been trying to recover some of my Shinigami powers. I have to admit, I'm a lot stronger than I was a few weeks ago."

Tatsuki walked in with a small cup of tea and handed it to Rukia who made herself comfortable in an armchair facing Orihime.

"So where have you been the last few days, Rukia-chan?" she asked.

"Oh, um, sick. I came down with a pretty bad cold last week and just decided not to come to school." Rukia answered quickly.

Tatsuki accepted her explanation and replied, "Well I'm glad you're feeling better." Rukia took a sip of tea and smiled.

"Mmm… This is good tea. I love peppermint! So how was your birthday Orihime?"

Orihime looked up from her tea and answered, "What? Oh, it was good. I'm glad I have such good friends. That's mostly what I was thinking about all day. I think about my friends every year on my birthday because I see it as a day of celebration not for myself becoming a year older, but for my life being marked a year longer. The reason I think of my friends is because, without you guys my life wouldn't actually be very happy so there would be no reason _to_ celebrate. I celebrate my birthday for you guys because without you there would be nothing to be happy for. Every day would just tell me that I had one day less to live. My birthday would tell me I was another year closer to death, but as long as I have you guys, I couldn't care less. For me, every day I live tells me I have lived another day with friends. That's why I'm always so happy on my birthday."

Tatsuki and Rukia had never looked at it this way before. They doubted that hardly anybody did. Only a person who truly appreciated life would feel this way about their birthday, or anything for that matter. Rukia was stunned that Orihime had said this. Tatsuki thought it was one of the coolest things she'd heard Orihime say and was surprised that this is what had gone through her head all those years. She must have really thought it out.

"Wow, Orihime-chan. I think that's the coolest thing you've ever said." Tatsuki told her. Orihime blushed and thanked her.

"Yeah Inoue-chan. I never thought of it that way." Rukia smiled at her.

Tatsuki's face suddenly lit up and she said, "Hey you guys! We should totally have a party! What do you think Orihime-chan? We could have it at your house as a sort of late birthday party!" Rukia thought that sounded like fun but waited for Orihime to say something before responding.

"Well, ok, I don't see why we shouldn't have one. It's not like we have anything better to do."

"Yeah, that sounds like fun," Rukia said, mirroring her thoughts.

"Oh!!! I just figured it out!" Orihime suddenly declared.

"Figured what out?" Tatsuki inquired.

"Strawberry yogurt!!!!" the red-head squealed, obviously delighted.

"Ummm…. What?" came the next question.

"At lunch I was eating something that I just whipped together this morning, it was a pickle peanut-butter and honey sandwich-" (at this her friends shuddered) "-and I was wondering if I should put strawberries or chocolate pudding in it, and now I'm thinking I should have put strawberry yogurt in it! It has the consistency of chocolate pudding and some of the taste of strawberries!"

"Umm…. Orihime, I'm not even sure that all of those things belongs in the same meal, let alone on the same sandwich…" Rukia piped up.

The girls then talked for about forty-five more minutes when the topic of Orihime's dress came up.

"Oh that's so sweet!" Rukia exclaimed after hearing about what Uryu's gift had been. "I always knew he liked you!"

"What?!? Oh no, no, no, no, no! He was just being friendly, that's all! Ishida-kun doesn't like me! Oh, Tatsuki-chan, that reminds me! This morning, at lunch, who were you talking about when you said that someone liked me?"

"Well, um, actually, Orihime-chan, um, he's actually the one I was talking about…" Orihime was quiet while Rukia looked at Tatsuki. Tatsuki looked at Orihime and said, "I already talked to him… well sort of… I said a few things to him and I knew that if he reacted the way I expected him to, it would mean that he liked you and he answered right..."

"But, but that means that… Oh geez… How long has he liked me?"

"Um… I'd say… a few weeks after he met you?"

Orihime's heart sank into her stomach. This was awful. How could she be so cruel? All this time Uryu had liked her and what had she done? She'd ignored him and tried to make Ichigo like her, hoping that he would eventually ask her out even though she knew he liked Rukia. This morning when she had been wondering who liked her she'd completely dismissed the thought of Uryu. How could she not see what had been staring her in the face for so long? By this time hot tears were gathering in her eyes. He'd been so nice to her and he had acknowledged the fact that she would never notice him, yet hadn't accepted it. He'd kept trying and she'd basically just pushed him away. She'd always thought of Uryu as a friend and never considered the fact that he would ever like her. Orihime couldn't stand it anymore. The dam burst and tears flowed down her cheeks. She never wanted to hurt him. She never would have guessed that she was hurting him like this.

Tatsuki saw that her friend needed someone to cry on and thought it should probably be her as she was Orihime's best friend and the one that had broken the news in the first place. Tatsuki hugged her and let Orihime weep into her chest.

After a few minutes had passed and Orihime had calmed down a bit, Rukia asked, "So if Uryu likes you and you like Ichigo and I like Renji, who likes me?"

Orihime and Tatsuki looked at her, looked at each other, then looked back at Rukia and said in unison, "Ichigo."

"Yeah, I thought so. Poor guy. The thing is, I don't know what to do about it. How do I set him straight without hurting him?"

They talked for another half hour before they had everything figured out.

"Ok, so Uryu likes Orihime, Orihime likes Ichigo, Ichigo likes Rukia, Rukia likes Renji and Renji might like Rukia back. We're gonna have a party on Saturday at 5:00 and invite Yoruichi, Renji, Uryu, Sado, Keigo, Mizuiro, and Ichigo, right?" Tatsuki reeled off. Rukia and Orihime nodded in agreement and Rukia looked at the clock. It was 6:30.

"Oh you guys, I gotta go. Dinner's at 7:00. See ya later!"

"Ok! See ya later Rukia-chan!" they called after her.

"Ok, so… On with those party plans…" Tatsuki continued.

A/N: Ok well hope you liked it! Thanks for reading! ()

(Lucy: Hey, who let you back in?!? SEC-)

holds up Zanpaktou Don't say a word…

(Lucy: O.O Yes ma'am!)


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Ok, I started writing this like the second I got done with chapter one so I had to keep it on my desktop for a while. I'm glad I finally get to post it. This was one of my favorite chapters to write because Uryu is my favorite character and it was fun for me to imagine what he would act like at home and in the privacy of his own room and what might go through his head when he was grumpy and stuff. It was really fun to write… and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do…

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. I simply gagged and bound the directors and producers of it and sto- _borrowed_ the characters and politely forc- _asked_ them if they would be interested in carrying out my somewhat annoying fan-girlish notions…

(Lucy: Don't believe a word she says…)

Three: Getting to the Party

Uryu opened his eyes and squinted at his clock. Lifting his head off the pillow, he saw a few blurry numbers, which he assumed, were supposed to read 2:41. He groaned and rolled over trying to get back to sleep. The party didn't start for another two hours and fifteen minutes. Why did he keep waking up? He had stayed up all night fighting Hollows and doing schoolwork. Why couldn't he just stay asleep for more than an hour? He wasn't hungry, he'd gotten up that morning and had some breakfast and there was absolutely no way he was uncomfortable. This bed was the most comfortable thing in the world right now. Maybe he was just excited… No that wasn't the word… he was nervous… No that didn't quite describe it either… He was uneasy? Yes that was it… This whole thing made him just a little uncertain. He lacked self-confidence anyway.

Why did they decide to have a party? Why were teenagers so stupid? Or was this stupid? Was it stupid to have a birthday party at 5:00 on a Saturday afternoon? No, he decided. It was just stupid of him to agree to go to one for a girl that he liked at that girl's house where she would probably be wearing the dress he made her in which she looked like the prettiest girl he'd ever seen and where there would probably be games that would potentially embarrass him in front of all his friends and they would be the ones embarrassing him because they would know exactly what to say to make him act weird in front of the girl he liked because everybody except that girl knew that he liked that girl.

This was possibly one of the most problematic things that had happened in his life. Or so he would think. He suddenly knew why he had never been interested in girls before now: THEY WERE TOO MUCH TROUBLE!!!!!!! Was this how popular people felt all the time??? No wonder they all put on an act. Maybe they all acted that way because they wanted to get away from their problems.

Uryu suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be trying to get back to sleep. Well there was another ten minutes he'd lost thinking about things he didn't want to think about instead of sleeping. '_Or maybe you do want to think about them. Otherwise why would they keep popping into your head?_' Damn that snobby little voice! Why did it always have to be right? Oh no! Here he went again, rambling on inside of his own mind and- "Ok, fine! I'll get up!" he said aloud to himself.

Uryu sat up and looked around the room, then irritably snatched his glasses off the nightstand next to his bed and hastily slid them onto his face. He crossed his legs, putting his elbows to his knees and rested his head in his hands. After a few seconds of sitting there like that, Uryu tossed the blanket off of himself and stood up, then realized he was in the exact same clothes he had worn yesterday.

Now it was all coming back to him; he'd been doing his homework when he had to go fight off a few Hollows. That took a few hours. When he had gotten back home he saw that his homework wasn't done and (for some odd reason) finished it, and then stayed up reading a book until he could no longer keep his eyes open.

Reverting his attention back to the present he noticed exactly how uncomfortable he really was. His jeans were scrunched up behind his knees and his shirt was very wrinkled. He walked over to his mirror to see just how ruffled he was and saw that his hair was sticking up at odd angles. He entangled his fingers into his hair and shook his hands, effectively tangling his hair everywhere. He then walked over to his dresser and sifted through various articles of clothing until he found the combination he was looking for.

It was a pair of khaki pants and a light blue cotton button up shirt over a darker blue long-sleeve T-shirt. This was his loose and laid back style of dress. He would have worn this every day if his school hadn't required student uniforms. He walked back over to the mirror and observed his reflection. His hair was still very messy and it had settled down due to gravity and the smashing of the shirt over it.

As he looked upon his reflection, he soon realized one thing, and as he realized that one thing he said it aloud to himself only to further etch it into his own mind. So, standing in front of his mirror on that cloudy Saturday afternoon, Uryu Ishida could be heard saying to himself in a slightly saddened demeanor "I'm such a nerd…"

He sighed and made his way over to his desk to find a comb. As he was rummaging through messy drawers he heard his stomach growl and thought to himself "Well I guess I _am_ hungry after all…" Upon finding the comb he closed the drawer, walked back across the room to the mirror, jammed the comb into his hair at the part and slid it down until it wouldn't go anymore. Great. Why had he tangled his hair so much when he got up? What was the point of that? Now his hair would be frizzy and annoying all day… He would probably have a lot more split ends now than he already did on the _one_ day he actually cared about how he looked.

He got to work straightening out his hair and finished a few minutes later without causing any serious damage to it. He tossed the comb back into the desk drawer and slid it shut, then looked back at the clock, which read 3:12. Going back to his dresser, he fished out a pair of socks and slid them on, then dropped to his hands and knees to find and yank the shoes he was going to wear out from under it. As he sat back up, his head came in contact with something very hard and heavy. Of course, he hadn't shut the drawer. Here came the pain… he groaned, partly at his discomfort and partly at his own stupidity, rubbing his aching head. He stood up (_without_ hitting his head this time), slammed the drawer shut as hard as he could without breaking anything and stomped out of the room with his shoes in hand, grumbling about lunch.

Once in the kitchen, Uryu searched the cabinets for a bowl, found one set it on the table, poured about three inches of his favorite cereal into it and got out a spoon. After placing it in the bowl, he spun around and opened the fridge, looking for some milk. He groaned again upon realizing that there _was_ no milk. Grrr!!! This was not his day. He would just have to make something else… He looked at the clock again even though he already knew what time it was. The clock on the stove said 3:16. He had an hour and forty-five minutes. Really, since he had to walk there and he wanted to be just a few minutes early, he had only an hour and a half. He decided, since he couldn't really cook, to have some Ramen. It was easy, fast and good.

Uryu poured the cereal back in the box, put the spoon back in the drawer, and made a package of Ramen. This was somewhat annoying because every time he had to get near the pot (to stir it, turn the stove off or get the noodles into his bowl), the steam made his glasses fog up. He absolutely hated that feeling. That was the thing he hated the most about opening the dishwasher to put away the clean dishes. All the steam rose up and hit him in the face at the same time making it impossible to see. That was very annoying…

When he had eaten pretty much the whole pot, he glanced at the clock for what seemed to be the millionth time that day and saw that it read 3:42. He still had about an hour left, so he decided to just hang around for a while. Going back to his bedroom, he logged onto the laptop sitting on his desk, and read fanfiction for his favorite book series. A while later, as he was stuck in a particularly boring part of the story, Uryu couldn't help but look at the clock in the corner of the screen. It was now 4:30. He saved the story to his favorites and started up a game of Tetris. He had just lost his millionth game when he looked back at the clock. Now it was 4:49.

After putting his dishes in the sink, slipping on his sneakers and dropping his house key into the right pocket of his pants, he left the house and headed for Orihime's. He'd never been to her house before but he knew the address. He'd been in that part of town enough to know where to go. There was a park about two blocks away from where she said her house was. When he was a little kid, Uryu had loved to play in that park. He and his mother would go for walks around town when there was good weather over the summer and since he played in that park so often they would usually go walking around that neighborhood. He was sure he'd seen Orihime's house before. He just hadn't known it yet. He closed and locked the front door behind him and set off down the street.

After walking for a few minutes, he arrived on the street Orihime lived on. He hadn't walked very far down it when he saw the house number he was supposed to be on the lookout for. As he was walking up to the house, he observed it. It wasn't all that big but it couldn't exactly be called small either. It was maybe a few square feet larger than his house. He was on the porch in only a few steps. Before he even thought about ringing the doorbell, Uryu looked over himself and made sure his clothes looked how he wanted them to and his hair didn't look too bad (this was accomplished by using the glass door like a mirror).

He checked his watch, yet again, and saw that it was now 4:56. He rang the doorbell and jammed his hands into his pockets, trying to create the image that he was relaxed and maybe even cooler than he looked. He knew that he probably wouldn't be able to pull it off but he could try.

A/N: Ok, I don't know if that's such a good ending to this chapter but I didn't have any other ideas for it. I'll probably revise it later but until then we'll just have to deal with this… I'm also sorry it's so short…


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Ok I wrote this between the hours of 12:00am and 4:30am the Sunday after Thanksgiving so forgive me if it's a little weird. I was going partially crazy due to all the food I ate that week and was probably falling asleep on the keyboard. There's also probably a bunch o' typos that the spell check I conducted didn't catch. Once again I apologize.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters. I just stay up 'til 4:00 in the morning over Thanksgiving break writing silly little stories for it when I should be sleeping or reading Great Expectations.

Four: Soda Pop and Party Games

Uryu had been uneasily waiting for the door to swing open and someone to invite him in for a few seconds when he heard the doorknob turn. He immediately turned his attention to the door expecting it to reveal Orihime or Tatsuki behind it. For a brief moment he had the insane and ludicrous idea that Orihime's father was going to answer the door. He instantly felt like the stupidest person in the world for forgetting, even for a fleeting second, what Orihime's condition was. Putting it from his mind, Uryu focused his eyes on the girl standing before him. "Oh, hi Ishida-kun!" Orihime said brightly. If she had been the sun, the entirety of the Earth's population would have been blind long before now. She was just so bright and cheery all the time. Even when she was 'mad' (Uryu didn't think it was possible for her to be truly upset at something) she was still so sweet and… well harmless. Uryu could not imagine her actually being upset. It just couldn't be possible.

"Hello, Inoue-san…" he said, straightening his glasses. He still had his right hand in his pocket and was fiddling with his key just to give his hands something to do. Orihime invited him inside to the living room where Tatsuki was already seated and offered him some soda. Knowing Orihime, he thought he should look to Tatsuki to see if it was ok to drink. Getting the ok he replied with a yes and she emerged from the kitchen holding two purple cans, leading Uryu to think it was grape flavored. He was right.

"So who all said they would be here?" Uryu inquired.

Orihime started reeling off the names of people who had confirmed their presence, "Oh let's see. Ummm…. Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san, Sado-kun, Abarai-kun, Youroichi-san…I think that's about it… Oh no wait, Keigo said he would be here too I think… Maybe Mizuiro…?" she finished. Uryu shifted uncomfortably. He didn't know Youroichi and Keigo were going to be here. That should be interesting. This was definitely going to be the most exciting party he'd ever been to.

They sat around and drank soda until everybody had arrived, which only took about ten minutes or so. Once the last person had walked through the door everybody cheered and said stuff like, 'Yeah, now we can get this party started!' and 'That's Ichigo for ya, always holdin' up the works…' It was all in a playful manner though and he was in a good mood so, fortunately, nobody got popped in the head. Keigo and Mizuiro called to let them know they'd be there a little later on and Mizuiro didn't know if he would be able to come at all. Once they had all settled down a little, Youroichi asked the one question none of them knew the answer to.

"So what do you guys wanna do?" she asked. Everybody sort of said the same thing. That reply was 'I dunno, whatta you wanna do?'

Uryu was the first to see it. Youroichi had a small, somewhat evil little grin on her face. Uryu had never seen her like this before and he was sure he wasn't going to like the idea she had.

"I have an idea…" she said, trailing off to put them in a state of suspense. Oh no. Here it came… Why did she have to keep them hanging in her every word like this? In all honesty, Youroichi was kinda scary when she had 'an idea'. Noticing that she had effectively grasped everyone's attention, she continued with, "We could play Seven Minutes in Heaven…"

Uryu was horrified, and yet intrigued; appalled, but interested. This was either very bad thing or very good thing. Definitely more bad than good. Yes, this was absolutely _not_ good…

Everybody else, except for Rukia and Renji, looked very thoughtful as if pondering the same issue he was. Rukia and Renji looked very, very confused.

"Hey, waitta minute! Hold on! What is this game and how do you know about it?" Renji asked.

"I'll answer the last question first." Youroichi replied. "I know about it because I've been in this world longer than you have and I know more things about it. You've only been here a few months. And to answer your first question, it's simply a simple and somewhat childish party game that people like to talk about more than they like to play it." Renji still had a puzzled look on his face. "The rules are very simple and there are several ways to play. We are going to play the way that requires the least amount of preparation. Inoue-san, do you have an empty bottle somewhere? Preferably glass?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so…" and she went to the kitchen. A few seconds later she came back holding a glass soda bottle and handed it to Youroichi.

"Perfect" she said.

"Ok but you still never told me what the game is!" Renji sounded extremely frustrated. Rukia just looked on, ready to listen if the cat-woman ever felt like talking. It was now evident that Youroichi was trying not to get frustrated with Renji.

"All you have to do is spin the bottle and go into the closet with whoever it lands on for seven minutes. Everybody gets a turn, at least that's how I play," she explained.

"Well what's the point of that???" Renji almost shouted. Youroichi must have had another idea because hat smile had appeared on her face again. She must have felt particularly evil that day because her answer to Renji was, "Let's just say you'll get to know each other a little better…" Uryu could've sworn that he heard the evil laugh going on inside her head just then, and he actually felt kinda bad for Renji.

A few minutes later, they had arranged themselves into a big circle with the bottle in the middle. No one wanted to go first of course. Ichigo, being the impatient one, said, "So who's gonna go first?"

Youroichi was quick to answer him, "Well since you're so impatient to get started, why don't you do it?"

"What?!?!? No way!!!!!! You're the one that thought of it!!! You go first!!!"

"What's wrong, Ichigo? You don't want to kiss any of the lovely ladies here today?"

"Wh-What??? I-I, no it's just th- but- hey that's not-" he blustered, all the while turning more and more red. Uryu was relieved that Ichigo was the first one to be embarrassed and not him.

As he looked back and forth from Ichigo to the girls' faces to Renji's reaction to finding out what the game really was, he couldn't help but start laughing. He tried to keep it in, he really did but it's just no fun to have a laughing fit in your own head and before he knew it he had let out a snort, and then didn't even try to contain himself anymore. It was just so funny!

"Hey what're you laughing at?!?!?!?!?" Ichigo yelled.

"I'm sorry Kurosaki-kun. It was just so funny all of a sudden that's all." Ichigo thought about it for a minute and seemed to agree because he said no more and spun the bottle.

Three or four turns later, Uryu found himself in the closet with Tatsuki. How had that happened? He was a little nervous about this, but he didn't think she was going to do anything and he most certainly didn't like her in that way. Besides, he was saving his first kiss for… well not for her.

As if she had read his mind she said, "Listen, I know you like Orihime and I only like you as a friend so we don't have to do anything if you don't want to. I mean I don't care one way or the other, but I'm just saying, it's whatever you want…" Uryu smiled and mentally thanked her for that.

"So how long have you known?" he asked her.

"Oh, a few weeks. A little over a month I think…"

"Oh. So how'd you find out?"

"Anyone with eyes can see it. I'm just sorry Orihime is so blind" she said sympathetically.

Uryu blushed slightly and said, "It's ok. I don't really mind-"

"Oh, yes you do. Don't lie to yourself like that.

"Ok, fine, I do but I can't do anything about it. She will NEVER notice me. She's too busy trying to get Ichigo to notice her, which is fruitless effort. Everyone knows he likes Rukia and Rukia likes Renji so there's no way he'll get her either. Especially since Renji likes Rukia back. Why don't they just go out already and solve all our problems?" he asked.

"Oh so you figured out the little love string we got goin' on here too, huh?"

"Yeah. It was a little while ago. As I was thinking about it I realized that everyone likes someone but no one likes me. It doesn't really bother me though. If someone liked me, they'd probably just be disappointed as well. This whole thing is very complicated."

"Yeah I know…Geez it's dark in here. How much time do we got left anyway?" Uryu checked his watch. He was glad he had brought it with him.

"Um about two and a half minutes… I'm glad this thing lights up in the dark," he answered. He was very glad that it lit up because, as Tatsuki had just said, it was very dark in that closet. He could barely see anything even though his eyes had adjusted to the lighting. He took a deep breath and slouched against the wall a little more. Suddenly he felt that Tatsuki was very close to him and before he knew it her lips had brushed against his very lightly and fairly quickly.

Now this was a surprise… Didn't she just say she only liked him as a friend and they agreed they weren't going to do anything?

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Oh don't be so weird about it. It was just a little friend kiss. I don't like you or anything. It just meant you're a really good friend. Also, it's part of the game. We had to do _something_ or it wouldn't be any fun. That can barely even count as a kiss anyway. Just calm down about it."

This sort of made sense to Uryu, but apparently not as much as it did to her. He decided to trust her. She seemed to know much more about this kind of stuff than he did. Besides that, it hadn't really bothered him all that much. He was just surprised and confused. He looked at his watch again and saw that they had about a minute or so left. He said this to Tatsuki and she leaned against the wall in acknowledgement.

"So who were you hoping to get if I may ask?" Uryu questioned to break the silence.

She answered, "You may, and Ichigo actually. I don't really like him anymore but I used to have a crush on him when we were younger. We've known each other since we were four, you know. Anyway, I think I just wanted to make sure I didn't still have feelings for him. Oh well. Better luck next time I guess."

Just then Uryu's watch beeped and a few seconds later they were let back into the room and were almost blinded by the light. It wasn't even all that bright due to the fact that it was getting dark outside. They carefully walked back to their spots and sat down to continue playing the game. It was now apparently Uryu's turn. He took the bottle from Rukia and spun it around very fast thinking only one thought: Who would he get?

A/N: DUN DUN DUN!!! Who will he get? Rukia, Youroichi, Orihime??? Find out next time on The String –only on and probably and if the evil barrier would ever break down and allow my stories to pass through the heavenly gate to the living (or mechanized) glory of the Great Beyond!!!!

(Lucy: She's had issues posting her stories on that place)

Oh and I was originally going to make this chapter and the next all one chapter, but when I looked up to see how much battery I had left-

(Lucy: she was using her mom's laptop and sitting in a big green chair in her living room)

-and noticed it was 4:23am, I decided I better go to bed.

Oh and I think I'm going to make Keigo come in at the end of the Seven Minutes in Heaven game. I think he would just be too eager to play it and he's so hyper that I don't really know what to do with him yet. I'll Figure it out though. Unless you don't want him to come in at all… Tell me whatcha think!!! ()

Yayyyyyy!!!!!!!!! Imodocons!!!!!!!!!! I can make a monkey oo and a fishy and a………

(Lucy: Oh, God help us! Not that again!!!)

………and a kitty - and a birdie and a...rambles on and on

Oh and that bird right there-----------

I made that up at 4:30 in the morning…

Ain't I 'mazing?

One more thing, I think I'm going to devote a few chapters to the party because, even though it's relatively short, the events take a long time to write about and I don't want to tie it all into one chapter because it would be tiring for me to put together and a very long chapter indeed. Also, I'm sorry if the bird didn't come out right. It's a multi-line thing and I can't really space it right because the 'Mediaminer' pages are wider than the 'Word' pages.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: YAY!!! Another chapter!!!!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Bleach, I only worship the ground they walk on…

(Lucy: I'm keeping an eye on you… o,o)

Five: In The Closet

So here he was, anxiously awaiting his fate. It seemed as though everyone had either turned their attention to Uryu or the spinning object in front of him. The suspense of the whole thing was agonizingly painful. In the pit of his stomach was the tight knot one obtains when enduring moments of extreme emotional discomfort, such as going on a rollercoaster and plummeting 100 feet to the earth, feeling as though you are inches from death even though you know you are most likely safe from harm. He watched the bottle and wondered if it would ever stop. To him those seconds, in which the glass bottle spun, ticked by like minutes. When it had finally come to a stop and lay pointing to the opposite side of the circle he lifted his head and saw that the most narrow part of the bottle was pointing to the person he least wanted, but who he couldn't help but pray for. Orihime.

What were the odds of that? Actually, now that he thought about it, it had been a 25 chance. Four girls and one had to be picked making it 1 out of four; 25 out of 100. Why did he answer his own rhetorical math question at a time like this??? Was he really that big of a nerd? '_Well obviously so. You just did it,_' came a small taunting voice from the back of his mind. No!!! Why was he thinking about this now??? Did he have to figure all this out this very second right now???? He happened to be in the middle of something very much more important than anything that could run through his brain right now. As he sat there thinking all this, he stared at Orihime.

As he came back to his senses he realized this, blushed profusely, and pushed his glasses nervously up the bridge of his nose. Orihime looked slightly surprised but over all nonchalant about the situation. How could she be so calm when he was about to have a heart attack??? This was so… so… What was it??? He couldn't describe it. How could he when he didn't even know if it was good or bad? Was this what he had been hoping for or exactly the opposite??? And why as this so hard?!?!?!?!?

He slowly got up, still in a slight daze, and followed her into her closet. Once the door was shut, he didn't know what to do. This wasn't the same as it had been with Tatsuki. It was very, very different. He wanted something to happen and yet he was fighting against it. Orihime, it seemed like, was either oblivious to his condition or just didn't know how to handle it. Man, she really was blind… Why did he like her anyway??? What did he see in her anyway? Then every reason he had ever thought of came crashing into his head all at the same time. He could hardly hear himself think and yet, all of it was his thinking. Ok, he had to calm down… He took a deep, cleansing breath and let it out slowly, draining away some excess energy so he could think clearly… He could suddenly feel Orihime's energy in the room with him and he knew she was looking at him. Well, she was looking at him as well as she could with how dark it was. Did she want to say something? Did she want him to say something? Would she kiss him or would she let him (if he somehow miraculously conjured up the courage) kiss her?

Many more questions like this raced through his mind in a very short amount of time. Suddenly he felt her body against his as she hugged him again. This led him to ask more questions in his mind and suddenly he felt the urge to speak.

"Inoue-san?"

"Hm?" she asked pulling away from him. "You don't have to do anything if you don't want to. I know you don't like me an-" he suddenly felt her kissing him. It was a real kiss this time. Not like the one Tatsuki had given him. His heart raced and all thought disappeared from his head entirely. He didn't really know what to do and he was in too much shock to think about it so he really didn't kiss back. She pulled away from him and he stood there exactly as he had been, not moving a muscle for a few seconds. Then the realization of what had just happened came flooding into him. She had kissed him!

Wait a minute she had kissed him? Was that possible? Even though it had happened he still couldn't believe it.

"Wh-What was that for???" He almost couldn't contain himself. He was so filled with ecstasy and bewilderment. Orihime couldn't figure out his reaction. Didn't Tatsuki tell her he was practically in love with her?

"I'm sorry! Did I do something wrong?" she asked. This made Uryu feel slightly guilty about his reaction.

"N-No! No, it's just that- well I thought, I thought you liked… Ichigo." As he aid the last word Orihime heard the pain and sadness in his voice.

"Oh… well I do… or I did… I'm not sure if I still do or not. It's just, I wanted to thank you… And apologize…"

"Ap-Apologize? For what?"

"I know you've liked me for a while. Tatsuki told me. Apparently she's known for a really long time. I felt so horrible when I realized how I've been making you feel. I really didn't mean anything by it! I'm so sorry Ishida-kun!" By this time she was nearly in tears. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to comfort a crying girl.

"Oh, don't cry about it. It's no big deal. It happens," he said trying to calm her down. Of course he didn't mean any of the things that had just spilled from his mouth. It _was_ a big deal and he _was_ hurt by it. He just didn't want her to be upset.

She calmed herself a bit and smiled at his kindness. How could he be so… good? He was nice and caring and sweet. In fact, for the most part, he was pretty much the exact opposite of Ichigo. Ichigo was rough, inconsiderate, loud, impulsive, and not very logical, whereas Uryu was calm, quiet, nice, cautious, and liked to think things out before running into a situation unprepared. When looking at the list, Uryu's qualities were definitely the better of the two and it seemed like they could be found in every girl's dream guy. And yet… she still liked Ichigo. Why? She put these thoughts from her mind and reverted her attention back to Uryu. It seemed to her like he was looking upon her with concern even though she couldn't really see. Suddenly she wanted to kiss him again, though she didn't know why.

She didn't like him, but she felt that she should. It was more difficult than that though. She didn't want him to freak out again and she had no way of approaching it. She decided to do what would most likely be the most pleasant way of going about it and said, "Ishida-kun?" She waited for it to be apparent the she had gotten his attention. "Hm?" he answered almost immediately.

She continued, "Would it be too forward of me to ask for another kiss?" She said this almost silently and felt her cheeks flush violently.

Uryu almost had to keep himself from falling over. His mind was racing. Why would she ask him that? She didn't like him and she wouldn't like him after this and she never had liked him. So why would she ask to kiss him??? What could possibly be going through her head??? Why were girls so crazy??????????

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he always did, blushed and stammered, "Well, I, um- N-No?" No. was that the right answer? God, he was bad at this. Why was he acting like such a little boy about this? Didn't he want to kiss her? Hadn't he wished he could kiss her for a really long time? And now here she was asking him to kiss her and he was backing away??? What the hell was going on here??? He cleared his head as well as he could and looked at her outline in the darkness. Was she expecting him to kiss her this time?

He moved forward a step and lifted her chin with his right forefinger, hesitating a bit as he did so. He lowered his mouth to hers and presently felt her lips on his. Uryu stood there for a moment or two. He was completely content. He never wanted this moment to end. He wanted to have this feeling, whatever the hell it was, to last forever. It had only been a second or two when Orihime suddenly and delicately slipped her tongue into his mouth before he even knew what was going on. As soon as he realized what was going on, Uryu recoiled, but she followed him.

Her tongue was in his mouth!!!!!!!!! He was sure he was going to die right then and there. He didn't know of what, only that it was going to happen. He wanted nothing more than to melt into the floor and never return, but he also did not want to stop. Whatever was going on he knew this was probably the only chance he would get. Thinking that made him settle down a little. He was no longer resisting her. He only wanted whatever was going on to keep happening.

Suddenly, he was blinded by a vicious burst of light and realized it had been caused by the opening of the closet door. All of a sudden he was aware that everyone in the room could see him, and there he stood with his tongue still in Orihime's mouth, his hands on her hips and her arms around his neck. Wow. What a sight to behold. He was sure the others were going to tease him about this one later as soon as they found room to fit a reference in.

He quickly pulled away from her and removed his hands from their resting spot with a feeling of utter mortification. He hadn't even known how he had gotten into that position. All he had known was darkness and ecstasy. This was not fair. Uryu was sure he had turned the darkest shade of red as humanly possible, but he could not feel it in his current condition. It felt like his feet had turned to lead and the entirety of his body had gone numb. He quickly made his way to the kitchen for some more soda, to calm his nerves. He opened the can but doubted he could drink it as he once again had an excruciating knot in his stomach. This was the worst thing he'd felt in a while. It was strange because, although he hated the feeling, it happened because of a good thing. He took a sip of the purple liquid and felt it slide down his esophagus and eventually settle in his aching stomach. After taking a few more sips and cooling his face down a little by splashing water onto it, he decided it was safe to reenter the living room.

When he got there he saw that everyone was seated around the T.V. Some were on the sofa, some on the floor and the remainder in chairs.

"Hey, what're we doing now?" he asked the group.

"Oh we're playing some Nintendo. It's Mario Kart for the N64. Wanna play? We decided to have a tournament. Oh and Keigo finally showed up too!" Rukia said with a smile bigger than he'd ever seen on her. Apparently, from what Ichigo had told him, Rukia loved video games. He'd also said that she was pretty good and had caught on fast. Oh boy… Uryu wasn't very good at video games. He could play Tetris and Gameboy. That was about it. He was glad they had picked this game though. He'd played it before and it was easy enough.

"So are we doing 'Battle' or 'Racing'?" he asked.

"Let's do battle you guys. The rules are simple and there's no question about who won or lost. We should also go only one on one so there's only one person to defeat and be defeated by. Sound fair?" Rukia finished.

Yep there was no doubt about it. She knew exactly what she was talking about. Renji on the other hand looked like his brain was about to fall out. Obviously he hadn't been expecting Rukia to already have mastered the art of this machine yet.

"Ok so who goes first?" he asked.

A/N: Well there goes another chapter. Hope ya liked it! Sorry about the OOC… Please don't kill me…


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Okay, I know nothing about the Japanese culture when it comes to entertainment, so in this chapter I said, 'Screw it. They have an N64 and American music!' I apologize for the obvious lack of intelligence going on in this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I only steal the characters and make them go to frivolous birthday parties to play an N64 and listen to Weird Al, The Dead Milkmen and Alison Krauss (which I also do not own).

Oh and if you're wondering where Lucy went, she's still in bed. It's only 9:22 this morning and we stayed up until abou- Pillow hits me in back of head with great and unexpected force

(Lucy: I am not asleep!)

Ok, whatever… (you say)

(Lucy: Glares daggers)

Man if looks could kill I'd be dead.

(Lucy: Damn straight)

Turns blue on forehead with anime sweat drop hanging on hair She's scary when she's mad!

Six: Video Games and Dancin' Music 

Soon it had been decided that Renji and Ichigo would go first and Mizuiro would play winner with Keigo after that. Nobody else called dibbs after these decisions had been made so they would just go up against whomever they felt like. Rukia made it a point that she would go last. Obviously she was confident in her ability to beat everybody.

About twenty, or so, minutes later Uryu was up against Mizuiro. Uryu was pretty sure he could win as he had now seen Mizuiro play against Keigo and Renji and had plenty of time to figure out his battle plan. It wasn't hard to decipher. Mizuiro simply ran around weaving in and out of laid traps, dodging shells and shooting his own at opponents. All Uryu had to do was head him off and attack him or lay traps where Mizuiro was likely to run into them.

The game started and Uryu sped off into a question box, getting himself three red shells. Three minutes later Uryu still had three blue balloons (he had chosen Toad) and a green shell. Mizuiro had one green balloon (he had chosen Yoshi) and a banana. Uryu inwardly smiled and raced toward the dinosaur simulation. He made one good shot, hitting its go-kart with the shell, causing Yoshi's car to tumble over and the match ended.

On the screen showed two boxes. One had Toad in it saying 'I'm the best!' and in the other one, Yoshi was crying. Uryu went on to battle Chad (that was the quietest battle he's had in a while), and Tatsuki, who was victorious. He and Tatsuki had been tied with one balloon each and they both had a red shell. Unfortunately Uryu released his a fraction of a second after Tatsuki did, resulting in his demise.

Ichigo was very surprised at him. Uryu had played very well. Who knew Uryu played video games? This guy was full of surprises. First Orihime (which Ichigo would probably tease him about later) and now this? Uryu was the biggest nerd in school (he picked a lock with a needle out of his travel sewing kit for God's sake!!!), but Ichigo now realized that he was actually very kinda cool. He'd never thought Uryu was lame or weird of course. He couldn't have even if he wanted to (and he'd wanted to a few times) due to the fact that he had no room to talk. Ichigo had never really been especially popular and never really had many friends before this whole Shinigami situation.

Anyway, the point was that that as much as people thought Uryu was nerdy or un-cool or whatever, they were probably right, but that's also partly what made Uryu cool in his own little way. He knew he was a nerd and he was good at it. He'd never wanted to be popular and to be painfully honest; Ichigo thought he'd be the crappiest popular kid in the history of ever. Ichigo was embarrassed of him to even think about it. Uryu was interesting and smart and it was a wonder he'd never had friends before Ichigo and the others came along.

Three matches later Rukia had beaten Tatsuki, making Rukia the champion. This was somewhat surprising to Renji. He'd looked as though his brain was getting ready to fall out again. Rukia was simply giggling at him and it was very obvious that she was happy she'd won.

"Hey you guys," Tatsuki, said, "Do you want some cake? My mom made it."

Everybody kinda mumbled things like 'Yeah, sounds like a good idea…' and 'Sure, I don't care…' and 'What kinda cake is it?' and lastly 'What is cake?' This embarrassing question came from none other than Renji, who was the newest to the real world. Everybody looked at him weird until he got uncomfortable enough that he said defensively, "What? They don't have cake in Soul Society!!!" Rukia piped up that it as really good and he was going to love it.

Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro were still looking at him weird and then he realized what he'd said. Of course!!! They weren't supposed to know about Shinigami and Soul Society! How could he have let that slip? How was he going to get out of this one? Then he heard Orihime speak and he knew he was saved.

"So how 'bout that cake?" Orihime asked.

Within four minutes or so they were all back in the living room, each with half a piece or less of cake on their small plates. Renji was almost in heaven. Or what humans envisioned as heaven at least. He pretty much lived in heaven and this was not it. This was about three hundred million times better than heaven. It was chocolate cake with icing and sprinkles. With it he had a small glass of milk to wash it down with. Renji didn't like milk too much. He never had. Never in his memory could he recall a time when he had actually drunk milk because he liked it. He just thought it was good to wash down thick or heavy foods with and he was right. In his opinion, that's exactly what milk was made for.

When they had all finished their cake and stacked their dishes in the sink, Tatsuki walked over to the stereo and pushed a button. Three pushed buttons later the group was standing in a loud rambunctious display of musical humor.

"What's this?" Ichigo asked. "I'm sure I've heard it before."

"This is Weird Al, my friend," Tatsuki answered.

After a few seconds of synthesizer music, the lyrics 'They see me mowin', my front lawn,' drifted into their ears. Uryu knew what song this was and it was actually pretty funny. In fact, he thought most of the Weird Al songs were funny. Uryu stood and listened to the lyrics for a few seconds.

'I know they're all thinkin' I'm so white n' nerdy'

'Think I'm just too white n' nerdy'

'Think I'm just too white n' nerdy'

'Can't you see I'm white n' nerdy'

'Look at me I'm white n' nerdy'

This was the chorus and as such was repeated after every verse. Uryu looked at the others and found that Orihime, Tatsuki, Yoruichi, Rukia and Keigo had formed some sort of ridiculous dance which consisted of various hand movements, spins and dance steps.

Apparently the girls had come up with this routine and gone over it just for fun at slumber parties, after school visits or other such encounters and now Keigo had decided to learn it. The girls, Uryu had to admit, looked very cool as they were in perfect sync with each other and seemed to be enjoying this performance very much. The rest of the party guests (Ichigo, Renji, Mizuiro and Chad) just looked on.

Uryu saw Renji's face and almost laughed himself to death, but felt that he must refrain, due to the fact that if he bugged Renji, it would probably only make things harder on himself. Renji's face was that of undeniable perplexity and Uryu knew he was more than likely confused about where the music was coming from, why Rukia seemed to know what was going on and why this sudden explosion of noise coming from nowhere didn't seem to faze her. Uryu felt sure that if Renji's brain were not trapped within his skull it would have been rolling around on the floor for the third or fourth time that day.

The Quincy stifled a laugh and continued to watch the girls dance while Keigo made a fool of himself. Uryu then decided to start having some fun with the song. He started singing the words loud enough for the others to hear. Even Ichigo didn't know this song. He would be able to hold this one against the substitute Shinigami if he bugged him about some unknown thing. Today, at this party, Uryu Ishida was cooler than Ichigo Kurosaki.

'I wanna bowl with, the gangstas'

'But, oh well, it's obvious I'm white n' nerdy'

Less than ten seconds later the song ended with the words 'Look at me, I'm white n' nerdy'.

The girls stopped moving in perfect unison and then spread out across the room to sit down in various places and do other things.

Yoruichi went to get some more soda and Tatsuki went for more cake. Orihime smiled brightly and Rukia just sat down. The boys didn't really know what to do so they simultaneously started voicing their opinions on how cool they all thought the girls looked and told them they should be in a music video, or do that for a talent show or something. Keigo was hopping up and down talking about God only knows what… The girls just politely thanked them and Tatsuki set the CD player to a different track.

"Now this CD is a mix that Orihime-chan and I put together so all the songs aren't by the same people," Tatsuki said. Uryu didn't know why Tatsuki had said this. After the first few seconds of each song it would have become apparent that it wasn't all the same band.

A second later the song started to play and anyone who knew it (Tatsuki, Orihime, Yoruichi, Keigo and to everyone's enormous surprise Chad of all people) started to sing along with it.

'One Saturday I took a walk to Zipperhead

I met a girl there

And she almost knocked me dead

Punk Rock girl please look at me

Punk rock girl what to you see?

Let's travel 'round the world

Just you and me punk rock girl'

The words were sung very loudly and obnoxiously in a horrible nasally voice that had absolutely no musical value to it. Uryu had no idea how it could even have been possible that this band had as much as song published. There was no way this was sung anywhere outside of a garage in someone's house. The noise was simply appalling.

As Uryu listened to the lyrics of the song rather than the musical feature of it he realized why the song had been successful. It was somewhat entertaining. As the second verse elapsed and the third came upon them Uryu listened as the nasally obnoxious voice shouted,

'We went to Phillie Pizza Company

And ordered some hot tea

The waitress said "Well no

We only have it iced"

So we jumped up on the table

And shouted "anarchy"

And someone played a Beach Boy's song

On the jukebox

It was 'California Dreamin'

And so we started screamin'

"On such a winter's day"'

The rest of the song went on in much the same way and ended in the words 'Just you and me punk rock girl!'

Uryu was almost relieved that it had stopped. It made no sense to him why someone would have written that song unless they were going crazy from being in their house too long. A few songs later another one came on that Uryu actually knew. It came on with a nice guitar solo and a something that sounded like it could have been a violin part in the background. Then Orihime stated loud enough to be heard over the music in a sort of apologetic tone, "Oops! I forgot this song was on here!"

"It's okay. We all need to calm down anyway," Ichigo said and everybody looked pointedly at Keigo who was literally bumping his head on the ceiling and if it were humanly possible would have been bouncing off the walls in a certain destructive manner.

The songs first lyrics filled the room and Uryu heard the words,

'It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart,

Without sayin' a word you can light up the dark,

Try as I may, I could never explain

What I hear when you don't say a thing,'

He mustered up all the courage he could and managed to stammer out the words, "Ehem… Er… Inoue-chan?" '_Inoue-chan? What are you thinking you idiot? Since when is it okay to call her –chan?_' his head screamed at him.

"Yes Ishida-kun?" she asked sweetly in her lovely soprano voice.

Uryu continued hesitantly, "Er… um… May I have this dance?"

His hands were actually sweating. '_Damn! Why is this so hard??? It really shouldn't be! It's just a string of words!_' This is what he was shouting at himself as he waited in suspense for her answer.

"Hm? Um… Well okay, sure!"

Uryu stood there for a second, her words echoing in his mind. She said yes? Wait, he asked a girl to dance and she said yes? How could _that_ be possible? Then it hit him. _He _asked a _girl_ to _dance_?

'_Well duh, you asked a girl to dance stupid! What else would you ask? A monkey?_' This was the taunting voice echoing through his head again. He promptly snapped at it to shut up and got back to his moment of happiness.

He had not only asked a girl to dance and she had said yes, _but_ he had asked the beautiful, smart, goddess of a girl that he'd had a crush on for what felt like forever to dance and she'd said yes.

'_Hello! Do you not notice that while you're standing here thinking, she's standing there waiting???_'

God, why did that voice always have to be right? Uryu came back to real world and looked at Orihime. He hesitantly started to move towards her and as she made no sign that she disapproved of this action he felt a small amount of confidence build inside him and he softly placed his hands on her hips for the second time that day, while suddenly feeling her hands on his shoulders. He felt her start to sway and lead him to turn slowly around in circles. He imitated the motion, clumsily at first but gradually got the hang of it.

Suddenly he noticed hat Orihime was quite amused and as he looked at her face he saw that her eyes shone brightly and a small smile was on her beautifully shaped lips.

'The smile on your face lets me know that you need me

There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me

The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall

You say it best when you say nothing at all'

"You really haven't done this much have you?" she asked.

Uryu decided this was a good opportunity to give her a small and somewhat flirtatious compliment, so he replied with, "Well, actually this is my first time and, if I may say so, I'm happy I get to share it with such a beautiful person."

He could see her blush slightly. Wow. If she blushed at that, how much had he blushed in the closet? Now that was a thought.

"You really shouldn't say that unless you mean it Ishida-kun."

How could she say that? Shouldn't she have known by now??? He _did_ mean it dammit! Maybe she was just in denial. "Inoue-chan, have I ever been known to lie?"

He saw her face light up with understanding about half a second after he said this. "Ishida-kun, I know you hear what all the boys say about me…"

Oh, so she wanted to know what people really thought of her. She wanted to know how the boys talked about her when she wasn't around and what they all said about her. She wanted to know if boys actually liked her. Uryu didn't really know what to say. He didn't want to tell her what most boys really saw her for because it would probably upset her and, more importantly, he didn't want to say it because it would make him uncomfortable. It was certainly undeniable that everybody thought she was… well hot. One of the first things people noticed about her was her hair for being not only long, but also such a stunning color. The other was, of course, her chest.

"Well mostly they all just think you're pretty. They know you're nice and smart too, but the truth is they just never take the chance to get to know you. Mostly, they just know about you…" He tried to say this as delicately as he could. She smiled at him and her eyes glimmered with understanding.

By this point Uryu had nearly gotten the hang of the dancing situation and felt confident to glance around the room. He had to know what everybody else was doing. He soon got his answer. It seemed as if everyone was dancing too. Ichigo was with Tatsuki. '_Well it looks like she's gonna find out if she still likes Ichigo or not,_' he thought.

Rukia was with Renji. '_Finally!!!_' This was comment was made in a celebratory tone.

Yoruichi was with Mizuiro. Uryu figured this was probably just so he wouldn't be left out and Yoruichi didn't want to dance with Keigo. Chad apparently didn't want to dance with anyone. As a result Chad was stuck having to endure Keigo's eternal chatter. Poor guy…

Uryu reverted his attention back to his own dance and was almost immediately trapped in Orihime's large, soft dark grey eyes. To him they seemed to shine with all the kindness of the world and hold all the goodness of her heart behind them. He saw pain in those eyes. He knew what she had been through, but along with that pain, he saw a healed heart. He saw a sensitive person and a good soul. At about this time Uryu knew that he was surely about to die of the cheesiness those words contained and yet he couldn't, due to the fact that he knew it was all true. God, why was this so hard??? Why did Orihime have to be such a good person? Why did she have to make him act weirder than he already did? Why was she so… perfect?

Uryu took a deep breath and tried to let off some unneeded energy. He heard more lyrics floating through the atmosphere and recognized that the song must have been nearly over because the third verse had just ended and the song was now going on the chorus again.

''The smile on your face lets me know that you need me…'

Orihime looked at Uryu with a new appreciation and a slight bit of wonder. He wasn't looking straight at her, but had his gaze pointed to her left side and was looking past her at nothing, only because he was too shy look her in the eye. For some reason, at this moment, he was cute. His angular features were much more soft and vulnerable than usual and with his hair hanging in his face, hiding part of his knowledgeable eyes and some of the light blush on his pale cheeks she was somehow drawn to him for a moment.

Why? She liked Ichigo. She always had! So why, all of a sudden, did she feel Uryu was the one she wanted to hug and kiss and dance with? Had she never felt that for Ichigo? Now that she thought about it, she couldn't recall a time when she had. She doubted that she had ever even thought about hugging Ichigo. She doubted if she would have even wanted to hug him in the closet earlier. Maybe she didn't actually like him. Maybe it had all been some childish little crush that hadn't really meant anything. Now things were starting to make sense!

Orihime had liked Ichigo and thought of Uryu as a friend, but now she liked Uryu and had a stupid crush on Ichigo. Wait, _did_ that make sense? Did she still like Ichigo? Was she going to still like Ichigo after this party and forget about Uryu? No! That wasn't possible. Not now anyway… Was she going to like Uryu and completely give up on Ichigo? Could that happen? Why did things like this have to be so difficult?

The song was only a few seconds from being over and now she realized that she didn't want it to be. This sucked! Would there ever be another time when she'd dance with Uryu? She just couldn't be sure. Gaaaaah, this sucked! '_Well, there's no time like the present…_' her mind suggested to her and she gladly filled in the blanks.

Uryu had been staring intently at the floor behind Orihime in an attempt to avoid her eyes. He knew she was studying him, thinking about something and he didn't want to have any awkward silences about it, so he just avoided her eyes all together. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and had to look at her. Tearing his eyes from the carpet to fixate them on the lovely girl a few inches in front of him, he gave her a small shy smile.

Before he knew it, she was kissing him again. Man, what was with this girl? Hell, it was good for him. He didn't have any problem with it other than he wanted to know if she meant it or not. The song ended and he broke the kiss, pulling back only far enough to see her face un-blurred. Her arms were around his neck and his were still on her hips from the dance. His dark blue eyes searched her deep grey ones questioningly.

"What?" she asked, almost defensively.

"You really shouldn't do that unless you mean it, Inoue-chan," he teased, throwing her words back at her.

She smiled and replied wittily, "Ishida-kun, have I ever been known to lie?"

Uryu's heart suddenly raced with happiness and he blushed. Smiling, he pulled her into another kiss, this time confidently. He didn't even care that the others were probably watching. Well he didn't until he _knew_ they were.

Keigo, apparently, was the first to notice as he was nosy and one of the only two not dancing. He nudged Ichigo in the arm and pointed at the two. In only a matter of two or less seconds everyone had noticed. Ichigo decided to have just a little bit of fun with the guy (mostly he just wanted to embarrass him), and said loudly with an annoying tone, "Yeah, go Ishida!"

Uryu immediately sprung apart from Orihime upon hearing this and discreetly ran his fingers across his mouth to make sure of no straying slobber (or lip-gloss) that may have occurred. He then went back to the kitchen for a glass of water, knowing that he was blushing like he never had before. He was either going to be teased like wouldn't believe later for this, or encouraged and, for some unknown reason, congratulated. Geez, this was going to be a long week…

A/N: Hey! I really hope you like it! Sorry I took so long to post. I've been kinda busy… Anyway, review, review, review!!! I need those! They give me reason to write! Don't be shy to write whatever you want!!! Tell me what you like, tell me what you don't like, just say something!!! PLEASE!!!!!!! SAY SOMETHING!!!!!! Thanks!!! ()

(Lucy: …snore… Flying… bunneez… evil…)

??? O.o ??? I'm not gonna say a word…

(Lucy: … You're so soft Mr. … cactus…)

??? O,o ??? Ok! I really think it's time to go now…

See ya next chapter!!! ()


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey there, everybody. I know it's been a while since I posted but I've been kinda busy what with Christmas and New Year's and school. And now it's final week and I've taken a few brain melting tests.

I am seriously glad that freshmen only have at most like three tests!!! I've already taken both of mine and thank God they're over. The first one, the one for English, I'm a little concerned about. I think I might have gotten confused with gerunds and participles. I really, REALLY hope not!!!!!!!! And my other one, for math, I think I did okay on. I was the last one done and I had to stay after class to finish it, but at least I took my sweet time on it. It was so hard though!!! I still skipped two questions.

Anyway, this chapter is a little bit weird and I'm not sure that I like it. I don't know if I want to put a chapter before this one or not, but for now I'm done with it. If I decide I don't like it, I'll revise it. I'm really not sure if I like the way it flows or how it's set up, but like I said, I'll fix it later if I really hate it…

Sorry if you don't like it… Oh, and how do you guys like the 'Lucy' thing? My sister, my friends and I think it's hilarious, but that's just us… The weirdoes… ()

Tell me whatcha think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters. I simply make up strange stories of my own imagination for them to be a part of and so very kindly ask if they would please fulfill my fangirl-ish needs by participating in the pathetic attempts at stories I dare to write and, even more daringly, post. They kindly oblige…

(Lucy: Yeah, after you gag and bound them!!!)

Throws Skittles and Lego's at Lucy

(Lucy: catches Skittles in mouth and accidentally swallows a Lego. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I SWALLOWED A LEGO!!!!!!! I'M GONNA DIE!!!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!)

'Lucy, calm down, I'm sure you'll be all right…. Just calm down…'

(Lucy: AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!! There's a Lego in mah tummy…,' …. sniffle, tear, sniff sniff……Poor little me…. The Skittles were good though! XD )

'See? You'll be fine. In a few days you'll forget that there's a Lego in your tum- Wait… Anime sweat drops AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!! THERZ A LEGO IN YUR TUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

In unison AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seven: Thoughtful Sunday

Here he was, at nine o' clock on a Sunday morning, thinking. Again, instead of sleeping or eating a sugary, heart-stopping breakfast, or playing video games or doing anything remotely "normal", he was thinking. Of course! It so happened, though, that, _this_ time, what he was thinking about was very important. It was important and unavoidable. How could he _not_ think about it? This was one of those things that you just _had_ to ponder about until you came to a decision or an answer. This answer or decision didn't necessarily have to be correct; you just had to find it. This kind of problem was most frustrating as it could take _days_ to find the desired solution.

He was undoubtedly thinking about the events of the party the night before. He'd been so tired when he got home that he had gone directly to bed and immediately asleep. Now, all that occurred hit him with a renewed force. Of course he had been aware of what was going on, but he was in too much shock to question it. He had just accepted the fact that what he thought was going on, was indeed going on. Now he was dissecting the situation and studying the details by replaying them involuntarily over and over again in his head. '_Ishida-kun, have I ever been known to lie?_' echoed through his mind, bouncing back and forth between the walls of his skull for what felt exhaustingly like the billionth time in less than twelve hours. With these words, the entirety of his morning would be confused.

What did she mean? Had she said that sentence with the same tone, the same feeling as he had? Or was she lying? Orihime? Lie? No. Wait, no? No meant that she actually liked him. On the other hand, if she said that just to get out of an awkward situation… No, that would be lying and it was true that Orihime never lied. That meant that she liked him, right? So either she lied and said she liked him or she didn't lie and she _did_ like him… Which was more preposterous?

Uryu decided, after much more pondering, that it was more unbelievable that she would lie, and even if she did, it was unthinkable that she would lie about something like that. So…. SHE LIKED HIM!!!!!!!

He was inclined to do a little victory dance I his head, but strongly refrained due to the fact that he would even have freaked _himself_ out by this ridiculous act.

Then another thought hit him. It didn't really hit him as it sort of whacked him in the head with a brick, stopping his celebratory mood. '_What now?_' That was the question that so dampened his mental parade of encouraging thoughts. What would he do now? What would happen when he next met her? This was impossible. How could he possibly find an answer to _that_? So instead of an answer this time, he made a decision.

'I'll just wait and see what happens,' came the mental quote.

Either she would act like nothing happened or try to avoid thinking about it, or she would act the same way he felt and blush over stupid little things that wouldn't normally matter.

His pondering session being over for the day, he went downstairs for breakfast. Hopefully his dad had gone to the store; he felt like cereal.

Orihime was at her kitchen table eating a breakfast of birthday cake and grape soda. She had simply picked up what looked good and took the least amount of preparation. She, too, was thinking about the party the night before. Not the birthday party; her slumber party. It had been a lot of fun.

She and the rest of the girls had played Truth or Dare. Orihime had picked Truth, as she usually did, and was forced to answer any questions the others asked her. Tatsuki's voice hung in her mind with the words, '_So is he a good kisser?_'. This had started a conversation within the game upon Orihime's answer. She remembered all the things the girls asked her and how hard it had been for her to answer truthfully, even though she knew the answer to all of the questions. '_Do you actually like him?_' '_Did you like it?_' '_Do you wanna be his girlfriend?_'

She didn't really want to share every detail of her experience with her friends immediately after it happened. She would probably tell them eventually, once it settled in her mind, but right now she just didn't really want her friends to bombard her with these questions. Also, she had been a little embarrassed of her answers…

Now that she thought about it, this cake needed something… Of course! She walked over to one of her cabinets and, finding what she was looking for, sat back down. Nothing like a little bit o' soy sauce to pull everything together… She looked at the clock and saw that she'd been up for a little over half an hour.

Damn it!!! Still no milk!!! How frustrating…. What else could he have? Searching the cabinets he found coffee, hot chocolate, tea, Ramen, canned foods, macaroni and cheese, popcorn, and a mess of other things piled up on top of each other very haphazardly in a three-shelf-high disaster behind the cabinet door.

He opted for a sleeve of Saltine crackers and a few slices of cheese with a side of soda. Taking these ingredients, he headed back to his room to lay on his bed with snacks on hand and laptop in front of him. He'd finish writing the chapter to his fanfiction he was working on, then log onto the fanfiction site to update it, and then maybe play his favorite online game. He was still a few levels away from where he wanted to be.

This would probably consume the remainder of his weekend. Even though it had made him grumpy right before he went to one of the most important parties he'd ever been to, Uryu was glad he'd done his homework in the middle of the night on Friday. It had freed up his Sunday.

Orihime was having a mental conversation with herself. She was replaying the events from her turn of the Truth or Dare game. Replaying all that was said, all that she answered…

'_Do you actually like him?_'

'_Well, I, I guess so…_'

Her mind was screaming and yet calm at the same time as it made its insertion, '_Of course I like him!!! Well, I think I do… Why would someone even ask that question anyway? Maybe I should have picked Dare…_'

'_Is he a good kisser?_'

Ohhhhhh yeah. Dare would have been sooo much easier…

'_Well, I guess, I dunno, yeah? I think…_'

'_Well did you like it?_'

By this time Orihime had been completely embarrassed and flustered. Couldn't they see what these questions were doing to her? This was unbelievable! Even if she wanted to ask these questions of somebody, she wouldn't do it like this! Why would she want someone to feel this way? The correct way to ask these questions was to be interested and calm, not exited, hyper and loud!!! Oh, well. It was a birthday/slumber party. What else could be expected? And anyway, she had totally enjoyed her night with Ishida-kun!

These questions were partly so uncomfortable because the truthful answers were the ones she didn't want to tell her friends, even though they would have been totally full of support for her, the prettiest, most popular girl in school, dating the biggest nerd in school. They actually really liked Uryu because they all knew him and thought he was really nice and cool. Actually, they probably would have thought the two would make an awesomely cute couple. Him being taller than her, very skinny, very pale, and very quiet in plain colors next to her bursting, strong, bright, loud personality and eye-popping shades. Not to mention her being of shorter height than him and of a stouter body build. Orihime was very thin at the waist but wider around in other places…

Yep… They would have said that she and Ishida would make the cutest couple ever… That wasn't really a problem with her though. The truth was… well if she could have brought herself to answer the questions truthfully the answers would have been something along the lines of:

'_Hell yeah I like him! I like him more than I thought I liked Ichigo!!! Ishida is so sweet and nice and cute!!! And man, is he a good kisser!!! He could use some practice, but I think he's pretty much got it down! Dude, was that his first kiss? If it was, Damn!!! And, hell yeah I liked it!!! That was like the funnest kissing I've ever done in my life!!!_'

Of course, this was not her personality and she would probably never even want to say anything like that in her entire life. She would only ever think it in the back of her head and live her own secret personality in there that her friends could never meet and would never know about. To them she would always be sweet, weird humungo-boobed Orihime that eats strange and somewhat gross concoctions that she didn't like very much either… And she was like that because that's how she set herself up to be when se moved here.

She had been the new girl in town and played the sweet but strange new girl in school with hair that everybody either hated or envied. Because that's how she started out, that's how she came to be known. If she suddenly changed her friends would worry… It was okay though. She didn't actually care. That was some other part of her that she didn't want to live or even know about. This was what she wanted to be. This was happy.

-WHOOSH- An arrow of rietsu sped through the air, smashing right into a tree. It had only missed that bug my millimeters!!!! He was getting better but he still needed more practice with this new bow. Uryu had gotten bored of his room, his crackers n' cheese and his computer.

What better thing is there to do when you're bored than to train for upcoming battles? –WHOOSH- Another arrow sailed by, catching a floating leaf on it. That was a good shot! This was good! This new bow was waaay better than the last one. And it most likely wasn't going to explode on him! That's always a plus! He found a spot, focused and –WHOOSH- let it go. The arrow hit the mark perfectly.

So he was pretty good at precision, but he was still really bad at speed and he needed just a little bit more juice, more power in the arrows if he was ever going to stand a chance against anything higher than captain level. That wouldn't actually be a major downfall, however, if he were any good at running. His shunpo was pathetic. He couldn't run away from a fly if he tried! He would have to go to Yoruichi for that kind of training though. He'd just stick to shooting various random things with spiritual arrows for now… -WHOOSH- nearly perfect hit…

Orihime was sitting comfortably in a large green armchair, reading one of her favorite books. Then a thought struck her. It was 6:30 on a Sunday night. School was tomorrow.

She had known that in the back of her mind, but the thought had just now made itself apparent to her. Why did she always overlook things like that? She thought, for a minute, about the work assigned on Friday and when it was due, then about the contents of her school bag. Yep, she had homework… She put the book down and, standing from the amazingly comfy chair, went to her bag.

Bringing it back to the chair, she looked through the contents, searching for all of the homework it contained. After she had it all out she decided it wasn't very bad. She'd already finished most of it. Just the tail end of that science assignment, an easy math practice sheet, and a bit of civics, which was totally fine if you had the book. All she had to do was skim through the chapter and she would get a perfect score on it.

Uryu was very glad his dad was rarely home. Although it meant the grocery shopping was rarely done, it also meant that Uryu wouldn't have to put up with his crazy father that acted like all he wanted to was kill him during training and didn't even pay attention to him when he _was_ home…

He was glad that his father apparently _lived_ there, though, because it meant that Uryu didn't have to pay any bills. How did Orihime live in that house all alone? How were her house, or any of her bills, being paid for? Did her brother leave her money or something? Did she get some kind of 'child-living-in-a-house-alone-and-can't-pay-the-bills' deal from some organization?

These were questions he'd never really thought of before. Now that he thought of it, he didn't think anybody else knew the answers either. Except, maybe, her closest friends. That might be it. He wanted to know, but he didn't want to ask the question. That was a situation that he didn't like. He never liked being too shy to ask questions. That was frustrating and he hated to be frustrated. It was one of the worst feelings in the world.

Both still running around in circles crazily screaming AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!! THERZ A LEGO IN YUR TUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hey peeps

A/N: Hey peeps! Ok I'm really sorry I haven't updated this thing in such a long time. I'm sure you must be wondering where I've been and if I'm even still alive or not. Well, the truth is I've recently been attacked by a vicious case of Writer's Block, celebrated my 1-year 'anniversary' with my boyfriend, and hacked off about ten inches to a foot of my hair. Yep, my pretty long hair that was nearly to my elbows is now hanging peacefully at my chin. It's a pretty drastic change, but I needed it and I think all the extra weight on my head was keeping me from thinking clearly. Ok, since you obviously don't care I'll just get on with the story, shall I?

Disclaimer: Man, why do we have to do these things in every chapter? Isn't it obvious we don't own the stuff?

(Lucy: You may not, but I do.)

#.#

Chapter Eight: Stupid Questions

'_Damn fog… Stupid fog… Man, I hate fog. Fog sucks. It's all humid and weird, and you can't see… and the frizz… and then it's all annoying… Grr. …fog…_'

These were the thoughts of Uryu Ishida as he made his way to school early Tuesday morning. He never had liked the fog much and honestly felt it was just a nuisance. Usually, on a day like this, he would have taken the bus instead of walking just to avoid the mist, but seeing as he currently had no money, to his misfortune and distaste he found himself going by foot to school.

Upon making his arrival a few minutes later he suddenly, once again, had that horrible clenching feeling in his stomach he'd endured Saturday night. At first he couldn't conjure up a sensible reason as to why. Then it hit him. '_Oh, Kami-sama. Why'd I decide to do that today? Well, I guess I _could_ back out… but I can't… If I do, it'll never happen. I already chickened out yesterday. What is up with me lately? C'mon! It's just words! I can talk can't I?? No. Not really. I never was very good at that… That's what comes of being shy I g-_'

!BANG!

Suddenly there was the abrupt feeling of unexpected pain and the undeniable sounds of laughter. Just barely on his feet Uryu looked up and saw directly in front of him a pole in the middle of a double doorway. Could this get any worse? Maybe this wasn't going to be such a good day after all. Immediately noticing what he'd just done and who had seen him do it, he knew he had to be some weird shade of pink and began to run. '_Damn it! this sucks! Why does it feel like this kinda stuff always happens to me?_' He wasn't quite sure where he was running to until he found himself a few feet away from Rukia's locker.

Rukia looked around at the sound of quickly approaching footsteps. "Uryu?" She didn't need to ask. She knew his rietsu(sp?) well enough to know this was definitely her friend. "What's wrong?" He looked flushed, angry, upset, tired, frizzy and on the verge of tears even though he would probably never let himself really cry. He sighed, walked a few steps over to the wall of lockers and sat down to lean against them. "Uryu are you ok?"

He gave a little halfhearted chuckle and said, "Yeah I just ran into a pole…"

"Oh, where thinking too hard again?"

"What?"

"Well, Orihime runs into stuff a lot when she's thinking and I thought maybe you might have been thinking too hard and not looking where you were going."

"Yeah, I guess I was. Hey, at least I made it to the door and I didn't end up crashing into the wall like a _complete_ weirdo."

"You're not a complete weirdo."

Uryu hated it when people said stuff like that. He was socially awkward anyway. He didn't need people giving him weird compliments and stuff. He never knew the right way to respond to things anyway. He just settled for what his mind could come up with, which, come to think of it, was probably a bad idea as it came out as a strange, "Uh, thanks…?" Great, he really _couldn't _talk. This was stupid.

"Are you worried about Orihime?"

Well that was sudden. How was he supposed to reply to that?!" What do you mean?

"I mean, are you worried she won't like you?"

"I, um, uh-"

"Listen, don't worry about it. She thinks you're really sweet and likes the fact that you're polite. You have a good memory and you're really smart. She thinks you're cool in your own little nerdy way. I don't know how much she really likes you, but I know for sure she doesn't dislike you. I would even go so far as to say she doesn't just think of you as nothing but a friend anymore, but that's just me. I hope that helps." She got up and went back to her unclosed locker. "Oh, and we never had this talk, ok?"

At first he didn't know what to say, then he saw her face a knew he didn't have to say anything. He stopped gaping and looked up at her thankfully with a slight feeling of hope and for some reason A LOT more confusion. Standing, he put his right hand in his pocket and swung bag over his left shoulder and walked off a little more confidently to find homeroom.

"Uryu!"

Uryu let out an 'Oof'-ing noise as he felt himself being tackled by somebody who was evidently waiting for his arrival and anticipating his entrance. He couldn't help but fall to the ground under this person's weight. Geez, who was this??

"Hey! Get off him! Geez! Are you trying to kill him or something? You're such a freak! Do we need to call the asylum for you?" All this was said as the person saying it attempted to yank Keigo off Uryu. Pretty soon Uryu could see Tatsuki standing over him holding her hand out. He took it gladly. "Thanks" he said a little awkwardly. In truth he was actually very thankful of her and thought her way of handling Keigo was kind of amusing.

Looking around he saw Keigo in a very odd position against the wall. As if he had been picked up and tossed there. That couldn't be natural. A few steps later he was at his seat with the others standing around talking to each other in a small confused group. He noticed Orihime wasn't there and then remembered why. She was doing something in the library for one of her other classes and would probably be back late for class. He'd already forgotten what it was she was doing and to be honest he didn't really care to ask. Looking back at his small group of friends he saw that occasionally one person would join and one would walk off to do something only to come back again in a few seconds. This continued until class started just like every day. Right as the bell rang, Rukia walked by his desk to sit down and dropped a small piece of paper on his desk.

Unfolding it he read, 'Are you gonna ask her out?'

Well at least he could say what he really meant in a note. He wrote, 'I was thinking about it. I just don't know how to do it or when…' then glanced up at the teacher to make sure she was still writing on the board and tossed his reply onto Rukia's desk. A second later the same paper landed in front of him. Again he unfolded it.

This time the message read, 'Well you should do it after school for sure. Um maybe start off slow, like 'do you wanna coffee' or something first. Don't just go all 'be my girlfriend!' right off. You might kill her lol. No, I think you should just not go to fast with her. Unless you wanna totally surprise her. I mean if you want her to have a heart attack and start crying or something weird then go ahead and do it all at once.'

He scribbled his reply, tossed the paper back to her desk and watched her read then scribble and toss back. This went on for about five more minutes until Ichigo got interested and motioned to Rukia to toss him the note. Much to Uryu's dislike, she did. That's when things got interesting. Not only was Ichigo's handwriting so different from the small neat style of his own and Rukia's, but the conversation started doing things Uryu wasn't so sure he approved of. (A/N: Here I'll just put the persons initial in front so it doesn't get comfoozing)

I 'No way. There is no way you're going to ask out Orihime.'

U 'Why?'

R 'Yeah, why can't he ask her out?'

I 'Because… because… um… just cuz! That's weird!'

U 'Why? Because I'm not 'cool' right? Because I'm not popular?'

R 'I'm stayin' outta this one…'

I '0.0 since when do you have nothing to say Rukia? Listen all I'm sayin is it'd be weird if you started going out with Orihime.'

After that Ichigo decided to stay out of it and left Uryu and Rukia to pass notes all hour in peace.

Today for some reason, the group had decided to eat together at lunch. The boys hung around their lockers a little longer than the girls did and as a result had to go track them down when they were done goofing off. Uryu thought they were probably playing a joke on Ichigo or something. Ichigo being the least likely to listen to reason and the one with the personality of a leader. Ishida thought they had to be in the courtyard somewhere and headed there without a word to Ichigo as he led Keigo and Mizuiro aimlessly around for ten minutes. Uryu was right of course and found them in the small courtyard underneath some trees.

"Where is everybody?" Orihime asked.

"Oh, Ichigo insists on being right so he's leading them aimlessly around the school. Normally I'd follow, but I'm not about to miss lunch."

A few of the girls thought this was kinda funny and giggled a bit.

Tatsuki was pretty sure what Uryu had said wasn't really all that funny and just sat there waiting for the few who giggled to calm down. "So what's up, Ishida-kun? I haven't seen you around lately."

Uryu knew he and the others seemed to disappear from time to time and it was no doubt people would start to wonder where they were going. "Oh, you know, just school stuff. Nothin's really goin' on" he said.

Tatsuki sighed and said in a kind of bored tone, "Yeah, same here I guess."

Uryu looked at her and saw the fiery martial arts girl inside and then suddenly remembered what she'd done to Keigo. "It was kinda funny the way you beat up Keigo this morning though." He couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he said so.

Tatsuki laughed as she remembered what she'd said, "Oh thanks. I didn't mean for him to crash into the wall like that, but he deserved it anyway. He's such a weirdo and he needs to learn how to be normal."

"You said it! That guy freaks me out!" This was from a girl sitting a few feet away whom Uryu did not know.

"Yeah, me too. He's such a creep!" This was from another girl whom Uryu only knew by sight.

Tatsuki looked over to Orihime and said, "Hey, Orihime, you haven't said anything yet. You're being unusually quiet."

Ishida looked at her and saw her blush slightly. He knew it was true. She was never this quiet. It was weird for her not to talk. It looked like she had customized her lunch, but not yet taken a bite. Since when did Orihime not want to eat? He looked down at his own lunch to avoid eye contact with and saw his own half-eaten sandwich, an open bottle of water and a few chip crumbs. He looked back up at her and saw what looked like a sickening concoction squeezed between two pieces of bread and a small water bottle filled with Kool-Aid.

He wondered what she could be thinking about and asked, "What's wrong Inoue-san?" He waited patiently for an answer and then heard a mumble. Unfortunately, the most sensitive of ears could not have caught that whisper.

"What?" Tatsuki asked. Apparently she didn't hear what she said either.

"Oh nothing. I'll tell you later." Orihime answered. "I'm just not very hungry today that's all. I had kind of a big breakfast."

Uryu thought that maybe this wasn't the truth. Orihime had a big breakfast every day from the sounds of it. He'd probably find out from somebody what was going on later. One of her friends would probably tell him if it was actually important.

The rest of lunch went pretty much the same way with Orihime talking very little, taking a few bites of her weird sandwich every few minutes. Eventually Ichigo, Keigo and Mizuiro _did_ arrive, their lunches already half eaten. Apparently they got too hungry to go on and were about to faint from heat exhaustion so they gave up and just started eating from their sacks as they walked around. Uryu figured Keigo was the one that started up this melodrama and Mizuiro, being equally famished, went along with him, ultimately causing Ichigo to cave in. He couldn't help but imagine a train of starving boys walking around aimlessly stuffing sandwiches in their mouths as they looked for people to eat with. The scene playing through his mind was just too much to bear and Uryu couldn't help but have a private laughing fit in his head.

Lockers are troublesome things. They get stuck and won't open or they get broken and won't close or you don't remember the combination and you're locked out.

'_Damn it you stupid locker. Why do you hate me? All I want is my backpack! C'mon! I already did my combination three times and now you're stuck?! Grr. This sucks._' Uryu was not very happy with his locker right now. He was actually a bit annoyed at it. '_Grr! Just open already!' _Bang, clunk Uryu kicked his locker as hard as he knew how. Maybe that would un-jam it. Sure enough, this time it opened. In the bottom, one of his text books was laying open so the pages were being smashed against the bottom under the rest of the book's weight. That would explain the clunking noise. Now then, when did he have for homework?

About two minutes later the bell rang and Uryu was zipping up his bag. He managed to make his way through the hallway without being dead at the other end and walked out the door into the sunlight. Now he just had to find Orihime. He would rather do what he was about to do here, at school, with the school atmosphere still in the air rather than somewhere else. Yeah, it wasn't the best time and place, but it was the most comfortable.

Now where would she be? Then he knew. He headed around the school and went in a door on the other side, then climbed up the stairs to the art class where a few students had decided to stay after school to work on projects and such. He walked into the room and headed straight for Orihime. At her desk he bent over and said quietly, "Hey. Uh, will you come with me for a second?" Orihime looked up at him and saw his blue eyes twinkling behind his glasses.

"Uh, sure…" She didn't know why she was following him or what he wanted but she let him lead her out anyway. After walking with him for a ways the slowed down and stopped in the middle of the hallway infront of a row of lockers. He turned to her and smiled slightly then dropped his head to look at the floor. After a second he picked his head up and looked at her with his sapphire blue eyes.

She looked away for a second until she heard his voice. "Hey, Inoue-chan?" She looked at him expectantly, waiting for the rest. "Would you- …Would you-" Here he seemed unable to go on and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose the way he always did when in distress. He took a deep breath and said quickly, "Would you go out with me?"

Orihime smiled and said with a blush, "M-hm" while nodding to make sure he got the meaning of her reply. He smiled and reached for her hands. "Thank you" he said. Pretty soon Orihime found herself kissing him again. This was different than it had been at the party. It felt like they were really and truly alone this time. This time it also meant something different than it did last time. This was unconfused and sure. When they broke apart it wasn't abrupt and unwanted. It was nice, and satisfying.

"Well I think I better go." Uryu said. "I meant to be home by 3:30 and now that I missed the bus I'll have to walk." He checked his watch. "See, it's already 3:15. Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you-" Orihime smiled and kissed him, "It's ok". He blushed and adjusted his glasses yet again.

"Hey, Orihime, who was that guy just now? I think he's in my science class."

Orihime looked up at her classmate, Sakurako, who was a year older than her and said, "Oh, his name's Uryu Ishida."

A look of confirmed recognition claimed her face and she said, "Yeah, he is. I think he's kinda cute… Anyway what'd he want?"

Orihime still in a tiny bit of a daze replied, "To be my boyfriend".

"Lucky. Is he sweet?"

Uryu strolled in the door, walked up the stairs to his room and tossed his shoes and backpack in the corner. Despite the way the morning had gone, he'd actually had a good day.

A/N: Hey! Well I'm not sure what I think of this chapter. I think I'm still recovering from my writer's block, which sucks because that means that anything you write is probably crap. So I apologize that this chapter and the last is probably crap but I'll try to bear it with you. Trust me, my crappy writing scares me just as much as you and probably more lol. Anyways, I'll see ya later! (


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